Traditional Cooking Equipment and Utensils

This is the butcher’s block that occupied a prime location in a traditional kitchen, made from a trunk of a local hardwood such as casuarinas or takamaka. Some biyo had legs while others were tall enough to seat on the ground.

This is a term used to describe timber that is prepared as firewood. It originates from the French term bois feu, literally meaning wood for fire. It was usually made from hard wood and about half a meter long. The bwafe was usually stored under  a shed so that it did not get wet . It was stacked neatly in between two vertical sticks firmly embedded in the ground and this was called a kord. The term Kord originates from the word ‘cord’ which is in fact a unit of measurement used to measure firewood in the USA and Canada, approximately 3.62 cubic meter. The name cord probably comes from the use of a cord or string  that is used to measure it.

The boukan originated from the French word boucaniers or boucan meaning wooden grill used for smoking. The boukan was and is still being made from the green mid-rib of the coconut leaf from which the leaves have been removed and along which a slit is made. It is tied initially at one end to stop it from splitting completely. It is about a meter long and acts as a grip. Fish, especially mackerels,  are skewered from head to tail and placed five or six in a row  into the slits. Once all the fish have been inserted in the slit, the other end is tied so that the fish is held tightly.

The hearth was the cooking area in the traditional kitchen. It was an elevated section built of granite and concrete or coral bricks and lime . The cooking pots would sit on three or four stones or on trivets with wood fire underneath.The trivet was  used to elevate pots from the flame of an open fire. Trivets usually had three legs and would hold only one pot but some had four legs on which more than one pot were  placed.

The gargoulet is derived from the French word gargoulette meaning a gurglet. It is an earthenware water container that keeps water cool. Gurglet usually has a spout and a handle, but most that were used on the islands had neither spout nor handle but had a long neck. It was a very handy utensil in days gone by, because the water that evaporates through the pores of the container would cool down the remaining water inside.

The tiffin or tiffin box is basically a food carrier usually made of stainless steel. It normally comes in two to three tiers, while the most elaborate ones usually come in four tiers. The most bottom tier is usually the biggest one and is usually used for rice. The meat or fish dish goes in the second tier and the chutney in the third. Tiffin carriers are opened by unlocking a small catch on either side of the handle.

The kafoul is a recipient that is made from the coconut shell. It is usually made from the part of the shell that does not have the eyes as this is the stronger part of the shell. After the coconut is husked, it is split in half and the flesh removed. The kafoul is cleaned and all rough edges removed. It was extensively used in early days as a mortar to crush garlic, chillies and other spices, as well as a recipient in which kalou or toddy and baka , fermented cane juice, was served.

The wok is a wide pan that has smoothly curved base and sides. The Chinese introduced this utensil to the Seychelles and it is the perfect pan for stir-frying. Deep-frying is also effectively and safely done in the wok, because the surface is wide and there is less risk of bubbling oil spilling over.

This was a water recipient made from the hardened, dried skin of the bottle gourd. To make the kalbas, the gourd must be harvested when perfectly ripe. The flesh is then removed and the skin dried out in the sun. The Kalbas was used to carry water when someone had to go away from the house either to go fishing , work in the fields or for any activity that took someone  far from a water source.

The pestle and mortar is an essential tool in any kitchen, usually of two sizes and traditionally made out of hard timber. They are now also made in stone and ceramic. Ceramic mortar and pestles are capable of grinding spices very finely, but they’re also more fragile than other types.

The larger version of the Kalou ek pilon was used for pounding grilled coffee beans to be used in our local percolator called lagreg, or also to pound dried, grated cassava into a powder to make cassava biscuits or galettes or different cassava breads.

This is a container made out of the coco de mer nut sawn vertically- coco scier. It was a very versatile utensil in the kitchen. Due to its hard shell, it was used as a container to pound garlic, ginger or chilli. It was used as a recipient to remove grit from rice and lentils or as a container to carry water, especially for cooking purposes. The kokosye was also used by fishermen to bail out water from their traditional pirogues.

The kornin, or cornet in French, is a paper cone made from newspaper and glued together with rice conjee. It was used by shopkeepers as a container in which sold items like sugar and salt, as well as granm would be put in, to be taken home.

A traditional coffee percolator, made out of galvanised aluminium, consisting of two main sections. The bottom section is a container with a spout and a handle into which the coffee drips when percolating. The top section has a perforated base, a handle to facilitate its removal from the base when hot, and a lid.

This is a funnel that was traditionally made from a half coconut shell, known as kafoul. A small bamboo tube was inserted in one of the eyes. It was used in the making of black pudding and also in the filtering and bottling of fresh toddy.

Most homes now will have a version of the box grater with different surfaces, but the original grater used by the Creole cook was a flat one consisting of a metal sheet punctured with rows of small holes. The top of the grater is nailed to a piece of plank of similar width but slightly longer to give the extra support when used. It was either curved or nailed flat.

The coconut grater consists of a small bench to which a sharp rounded and serrated piece of metal is attached. The coconut is split in two and one sits on the grater to grate the flesh of the half coconut against the sharp metal tip. This little tool has caused me so much pain in my younger days since I had to grate on average up to eight coconuts daily for use in cooking or chicken feed.

Originating from the French word vanner meaning to sift or winnow. This is a fairly flat basket made out of thin strips of woven bamboo. The main purpose of this basket was to sift grit from unwashed rice and lentils. It was also sometimes used to carry and display fruits and vegetables.

A big spatula usually made out of bamboo used when cooking in bulk such as making pork crackling.

The cast iron pot is an absolute necessity if one uses a wood fire. The pots are usually black with three legs of about 4 cm long and two ears. The legs allow the pots to sit on a flat surface. Otherwise, they would fall over since they have a rounded bottom. The two ears are used to lift the pots from the fire, using two sticks made out of hard wood that are inserted in the ‘ears’.

A dead tree made from the  bwadir tree ( Canthium bibracteatum)  that was cleaned up  of its bark and leaves and ‘planted’ in the yard of many houses, usually close to the external kitchen. Cleaned toddy or milk bottles were inserted in its branches to be dried. Sometimes other recipients like enamel mugs were also placed in the tree to be dried and aired.  The bwadir tree was used because, as the name, meaning hard wood, implies, it is a tough tree and has many small branches and does not rot that easily. It is also known as pike kalou.

The curry stone is a flat grinding stone and a roller used mainly by Seychellois of Indian origin to grind spices for curries. The spices are placed on the rock and the roller is pushed across them with a grinding action. Usually both hands are used to apply pressure on to the roller. With a flick of the wrists the roller is pulled back over the spices until they are ground to the right consistency. The roller is never rolled like a rolling pin.

An earthenware pot used to store and preserve salted meat.  In the absence of a refrigerator one way to preserve meat was to salt it and the pot  was a very handy utensil to have because it kept the salted meat away from pests and rodents.

This traditional piece of equipment , also known as coal pot, is in effect a small portable stove used to boil water or cook small dishes. Used mainly for cooking in the house, the fuel used is mainly charcoal made out of hardwood. The reso, made out of cast iron, is approximately 25cm high and 25cm wide. The top part is shaped like a rather wide and deep bowl at the bottom of which holes have been bored.

Found in the coconut trees in between the leaves, this ‘cloth’ is a naturally woven fibre and is very strong. The Creole cook uses it to press milk out of grated coconut or juices out of vegetables or green fruits being prepared for fresh chutneys. When it wears out, one only has to replenish from a coconut tree by chopping off a piece, washing it, trimming it to size and it is ready to be used.

This is a three stone trivet that was used either for cooking in the open air or on a hearth. It was the cast iron pot that was usually placed on the touk. The word is derived from the Malagasy work toko meaning a three stones cooking place.

As the Creole word implies, the trivet is a three-legged triangular metal support on which a cast iron pot would sit with a wood fire underneath. It would usually be located on the hearth. The three legs are about 10cm high. Apart from being used to support the pot during the cooking process, it is also used as a stand for hot pots or pans, protecting the surface of the table from being scorched especially as most tabletops were made of timber.

Enameled mug and plates were very popular on the islands. There are many reasons for this. First they were reasonably cheap compared to ceramic plates, they were longer lasting even if at time the enamel will break off.  They will not rust  as the islands being small, the sea sprays travel far inland and anything metal ultimately rusts if not constantly washed in fresh water. 

A plug cut out of the coconut husk. A sharp knife is required for this process because coconut husk is not easy to cut. The plug was used to plug concrete sink or the baye, as well as drain holes of pirogues.

Coir , or coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the husk of coconut and used to clean plates and pots. They served the same purpose as a sponge or scrubbing pad. The soap that was used was called savon blanc a very crude soap that was rough on the skin made locally and used only for the cleaning of plates and pots. There was no washing liquid then. The coir  is also used  in products such as ropes, floor mats, doormats, brushes and mattresses.

A local bag made out of braided pandanus or vakwa leaves. The leaves are picked, the thorns removed, and they are cut into strips that are left in the sun to dry. Once dried, each strip is softened by the use of a knife and then braided into bags and hats.

Balye zig is a broom made from the mid rib of the leaflets of  the coconut frond.  The green of the leaflets is stripped away, leaving the rib or veins  which are tied together to form a broom or brush. The  balye zig is used to clean outside of the house including the yard.

Balye fatak is made from the dried hollow flowering stem of the Guinea Grass.  The seeds are removed for the flowering stem which are then neatly tied together to form the broom. It is a soft broom  and used mainly to clean inside the kitchen and house. The local broom has no stick attached to it. The length of the broom is the length of the flowering stem. Some imported version have a stick attached to maker it longer.

The bikaw or cleaver was made out of steel and was very heavy. It was  made by the local blacksmith and forged  from an old leaf spring from a large truck . The  blacksmith or forzron who used to make most of the knives in my village was a man nicknamed tortue. He had an old forge made out of stone and bricks that had a bellow system.

The gran kouto was used most in the plantation  and for picking up of coconuts. The kouto kalou was a smaller knife used only for the tapping of toddy. This knife was always kept razor-sharp and kept away from young kids.

Ladal were bamboo pipes traditionally used as water conduits to many homes on the granite islands. It relied on gravity for the water to flow from the source to the home and were up to a few kilometres long. The source was a usually from a river up in the hills. There were two main types of bamboo pipes.

This is the old kettle that was placed directly over a fire either on a hearth  a reso or a touk. One drawback with this kettle was that the handle got very hot and that you had to use a rag or cloth to remove the kettle from the fire.

The danmzann is a word that is derived from the French word dame-jeanne. It is a glass container with a large body , a flat bottom and small neck, enclosed in wickerwork with handles. The wickerwork acts like a protection when the bottle is moved. The danmzann was used in Seychelles as a container in which crushed sugar cane juice was fermented to become baka.

This was an oil or petrol lamp that was made out of  bottle or a tin or even a small jar. It had a wick inserted into a hole in the top. This lamp produced a lot of carbon and this was the lamp I grew up with before we progressed to a hurricane lamp or fannal.

The hurricane  lamp is a type of lamp that uses kerosene or petrol as we called it then, as a fuel. It has a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe which was designed to protect the flame even in high winds. This lamp was very popular all over the island for the simple reason that it would stay alight even on windy evenings.

The tabli was  a small table located in the kitchen or just outside the kitchen next to the bay, on which the pots and plates were kept. It did not have a solid top but had chicken instead. This   allowed for  airing and draining of washed  cooking utensils and cutlery.  It is worth noting that traditionally no cooking utensils or cutlery were wiped dry . They were all air-dried.